Union Army Civil War Officer. Louis Schirmer received a complete military education in Prussia, for the artillery arm of the service. He immigrated to the US and in 1858 served as First Lieutenant with the St. Louis Mounted Rifles, a German militia company in Missouri. The company was disbanded in 1860 and he subsequently settled in Memphis, Tennessee where he was engaged as a produce dealer. In the winter of 1861 he fled with his family to New York and at the outbreak of the Civil War enrolled in the 29th New York Infantry, Co.H 17 May 1861. Mustered in as First Lieutenant in June he led an artillery section at the First Battle of Bull Run. Promoted Captain 25 November 1861 he was assigned command of the 2nd New York Independent Battery. "Schirmer's Battery" was attached to Brig. Gen. Louis Blenker's division of Germans in the Shenandoah Valley; including the Battle of Cross Keys where Schirmer unofficially led Blenker's divisional artillery. During the Second Bull Run Campaign Schirmer led Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel's Reserve Artillery. He was promoted Lieutenant Colonel 31 March 1863 and served as Chief of Artillery, XI Corps under Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard during the Chancellorsville Campaign. He took part in the suppression of the New York City draft riots in July and was promoted Colonel 6 October 1863. Schirmer led the oversized 15th New York Heavy Artillery (serving as infantry) during Grant's Overland Campaign. Shell wound (back), Petersburg, Va., 18 June 1864. Col. Louis Schirmer was arrested 26 August and confined at the Old Capitol Prison for about 5 months, without charges being preferred against him. After 7 or 8 months in prison he was tried on six different charges, and nearly sixty specifications. After a 3 month trial commencing 25 March Colonel Schirmer was acquitted on five counts, but was found guilty of several forgeries and frauds and sentenced "to be cashiered and dishonorably dismissed" 3 August 1865. His court-martial became embroiled in political controversy and was well-publicized; several minor works were also published, debating the particulars of his extraordinary trial. After 1868, when Schirmer was arrested in New York City and charged with false pretenses, all trace of him disappears. His place of burial remains unknown.